Runway overrun awareness alerting system with trending indicator

Abstract

An aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system (ROAAS) for an aircraft primary flight display (PFD) is disclosed. In embodiments, the ROAAS is embodied aboard an aircraft and tracks trends in the aircraft position and heading. Further, the ROAAS tracks the trending energy state of the aircraft on approach to a runway. Based on the current energy state, as well as the runway parameters, the ROAAS predicts a landing point for the aircraft along the runway as a trend based on the evolving energy state and position of the aircraft. Based on the landing point trend, as well as the energy state, the ROAAS determines the current likelihood of runway excursion as an evolving trend (e.g., that the aircraft will not have sufficient runway remaining to decelerate or stop) and displays this likelihood as a dynamic graphic element not integrated into any other instruments or components displayed by the PFD.

We claim: 
     
       1. An aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system, comprising:
 one or more processors installable aboard an aircraft and configured for: 
 determining one or more sequential position states corresponding to the aircraft, each position state associated with an inflight position of the aircraft and a direction of the aircraft; 
 determining one or more runway attributes corresponding to a runway proximate to the aircraft; 
 determining one or more sequential energy states of the aircraft, wherein the one or more energy states includes an angle of attack and an airspeed; 
 predicting, based on the one or more position states, the one or more energy states, and the one or more runway attributes, a landing point on the proximate runway; 
 predicting, based on at least the landing point and the one or more energy states, a runway overrun probability; 
 and 
 revising at least one of the landing point or the runway overrun probability based on one or more of a change in the one or more position states or a change in the one or more energy states; 
 and 
 at least one display device in communication with the one or more processors, the display device configured to: 
 display, within a display surface, one or more primary flight display (PFD) components and navigational instruments corresponding to the aircraft; 
 and 
 display at least one dynamic graphic representation corresponding to the runway overrun probability, wherein the dynamic graphic representation is not integrated with the one or more of the PFD components and the navigational instruments, wherein the dynamic graphic representation comprises a dynamic shape, wherein a size of the dynamic shape directly indicates the runway overrun probability, wherein a change in the shape of the dynamic shape directly indicates a change in the runway overrun probability. 
 
     
     
       2. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one display device is configured to revise the dynamic graphic representation based on the runway overrun probability. 
     
     
       3. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more position states based on position information received from one or more of an aircraft sensor, a flight management system (FMS), and an engine indicator and crew alerting system (EICAS). 
     
     
       4. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the energy state based on data received from one or more of an aircraft sensor, a flight management system (FMS), and an engine indicator and crew alerting system (EICAS). 
     
     
       5. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive the one or more runway attributes from at least one source external to the aircraft. 
     
     
       6. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the display device is configured to:
 generate at least one of a synthetic vision display or an enhanced vision display associated with an environment proximate to the runway; 
 and 
 superimpose the one or more of the PFD components, the navigational instruments, and the dynamic graphic representation over the synthetic vision display or the enhanced vision display. 
 
     
     
       7. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the dynamic graphic representation comprises the dynamic shape and a color element. 
     
     
       8. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 7 , wherein the revising of the runway overrun probability corresponds to:
 a size change of the dynamic shape; 
 and 
 a color change of the color element. 
 
     
     
       9. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 8 , wherein the size change corresponds to the color change. 
     
     
       10. The aircraft-based runway overrun awareness alerting system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one display device is configured to display the dynamic graphic representation within at least one region of the display surface not including a displayed PFD component or navigational instrument.